The present invention relates to the technical field of medical appliances in the general sense, and more particularly it relates to the technical field of appliances comprising a medical instrument that is separable from an actuator support.
More precisely, the invention provides a medical appliance in which the actuator support is designed to be reusable, while the medical instrument that comes into contact with human tissues or organs is for single use only, or for multiple uses but with the same patient.
In the state of the art, numerous medical appliances are known that implement a single-use medical instrument. For example, in the field of endoscopy, U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,112 describes a flexible tubular instrument that is mounted by means of a connection and disconnection system to an actuator support that forms a handle. The flexible tubular instrument includes a threaded coupling having a rocker lever having fastened to each end thereof a respective cable that is fastened to the free end of the flexible tubular instrument to enable it to be folded or deflected.
That flexible tubular instrument is fastened to the handle by means of a threaded ring that co-operates with the threaded coupling. The handle includes a pair of actuator rods that are controlled to move in synchronized alternating linear movements so as to press successively against one or the other of the ends of the cable-actuating lever. Thus, one of the cables is moved in one direction while the other cable is caused to move in the opposite direction. It should be observed that in that solution there is no mechanical connection between the cables and the actuating rods, insofar as the rods provide thrust movement only. That solution presents the drawback of limiting the mechanical movements that are transmitted to the medical instrument.
Similarly, US patent application No. 2005/177027 describes an endoscope including electrical connection means between an insertion tube and an observation head. The observation head includes an annular electrode connected to light-emitting diodes that are implanted at the free end of the head. That annular electrode is made up of a stack of three connection sheets and is located at the rear of the head, so as to be in electrical contact with electrodes that extend to the end of the insertion tube.
The observation head includes an assembly ring provided internally with two threads. The insertion tube is provided at its free end with a thread that is engaged axially inside the ring that is turned so as to ensure screw fastening of the insertion tube with the observation head. At the end of the assembly stroke, the electrodes of the insertion tube are in electrical contact with the electrodes so as to power the light-emitting diodes electrically.
That document describes an endoscope including a system for providing electrical connection by moving an observation head and an insertion tube towards each other with the help of a screw-and-nut system. That document does not describe a connection and disconnection system suitable for providing a genuine mechanical connection that can be separated easily and quickly between a medical instrument and an actuator support.